Annet Antanrajakumar (BSC, 2014) is taking all her courses at medical school at the University of Ottawa in French.

...Well, how about medical school, for
starters?

For Annet Antanrajakumar (BSc, 2014), a bilingual medical student
at the University of Ottawa, it was love at first sound when she began
studying French in elementary school.

“When I started French immersion in Grade 5, I just fell in
love with the language,” said Antanrajakumar, 25. “It was
such a beautiful language.”

She continued her immersive studies through high school and was
determined not to lose her growing facility with French.

“There was no one else in my family who spoke French and no
other way to keep up the language except through school,” said
Antanrajakumar, who grew up in Toronto speaking English and Tamil.

She was accepted to U of T Scarborough to study biological
sciences, another of her interests, and also registered for first-year
French. In talking with her academic advisors, Antanrajakumar
discovered that she could incorporate both subjects into her degree
and pursued a double major in integrative biology and French.

“It wasn’t tough to fit all of the required courses
into my timetable, but with all the three-hour lab courses, it meant
that I was at school all day from Monday to Friday,” she
said.

As if her courses didn’t keep her busy enough, Antanrajakumar
also ran a facilitated study group for science students, volunteered
at The Hospital for Sick Children and Toronto Rehab hospital and
taught Sunday school at her church.

“It was nice to be busy doing things I liked,” she
said.

After graduation, Antanrajakumar spent a year working in a bank,
dealing with their francophone clients. She loved using her French
skills, but discovered that banking wasn’t right for her.

“I always wanted to be in a career where I could help
people,” she said, and she decided to apply to medical school
– at the University of Ottawa, where she had the choice of
taking her courses in English or French. Naturally, Antanrajakumar
chose to immerse herself in the curriculum taught in French.

“To be honest, I’m not a French expert yet and
sometimes, I don’t understand a word or two and it throws me
off, but I have francophone friends, so I can nudge them to get a
definition. I’m always learning.”

Medicine has proven to be the right path for her, and she’s
thrilled to be cementing her French as well.

“If I had it to do all over again, I’d want to do
exactly the same thing I did,” she said. “I know enough
French now so that it will always stay with me, and it allows me to
keep many doors open.”

Professor Karen McCrindle, one of her teachers and the director of
UTSC’s Centre for French and Linguistics, calls Antanrajakumar
“a credit to our program and to UTSC.”

“Annet followed her passions, which may seem contradictory
from the outside, but combining her interests has clearly helped her
to chart a path all her own,” she said.

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